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A group of state lawmakers announced legislation Wednesday that would abolish an exemption from the mandate that children get vaccinated before they enter school if it conflicts with their parents' personal beliefs. Surrounded by mothers holding babies, five lawmakers said during a Capitol news conference that the legislation was needed to address a trend among many parents not getting their children immunized against common diseases and the spread of some preventable illnesses including measles and whooping cough. "There are not enough people being vaccinated to contain these dangerous diseases," said Sen. Richard Pan (D-Sacramento), a pediatrician. "We should not...

Related "Richard Pan" Articles

A group of state lawmakers announced legislation Wednesday that would abolish an exemption from the mandate that children get vaccinated before they enter school if it conflicts with their parents' personal beliefs.
Surrounded by mothers holding...

As we've been pointing out almost since the inception of the 2015 measles epidemic, outbreaks of such vaccine-preventable diseases are often associated with overly indulgent exemptions from mandatory childhood immunizations.
Two California legislators...

Alarmed by the spread of disease as some parents decline to vaccinate their children, two state lawmakers plan legislation aimed at increasing the number of youngsters who have been immunized when they start school in California.
They will propose...

California’s two U.S. senators on Wednesday called on state officials to reconsider California’s policy on allowing exemptions to childhood vaccinations.
Democratic Sens. Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer, in a letter to state Health and Human...

Up until this latest measles outbreak, it seemed as though the anti-vaccination parents and their enablers were the more vocal group. They were, after all, the small minority swimming against the trend. There was little reason for the majority to yell...

Early this morning, I posted about the newly vocal majority on vaccination—the parents who are willing to fight back against the anti-vaccination trend that has been implicated in the latest outbreak of measles. Cases have reached more than 100.
It’s...

The decades-long battle over medical malpractice limits played out in a very public way with Proposition 46, which would have raised the cap on pain and suffering damages to $1.1 million.
The doctors, insurers and other healthcare interests who opposed...

Did I pause, ever so briefly, when it was time for my daughter to be vaccinated as required under California law?
Yes. A parent worries.
You worry about a negative reaction, or even about claims by some that high rates of autism might be related to...

The official who led California's giant public healthcare services department through a tumultuous implementation of Obamacare reforms -- including a months-long period during which hundreds of thousands of Medicaid applications have languished, waiting...

The proposed repeal of the California law that requires food workers to wear gloves has inched its way through the state Assembly and Senate and is in its "final push" to go to Gov. Jerry Brown. On Thursday morning, the state Senate voted 32...

The new California law that requires food workers to wear gloves, stirring controversy among outraged chefs and bartenders, is another step closer to being repealed.
The state Assembly's Health Committee, which proposed the bill that Gov. Jerry Brown...

SACRAMENTO--A bill barring the state's health insurance exchange from hiring individuals convicted of certain felonies failed to advance Tuesday.
Under the proposal by Assemblywoman Connie Conway (R-Tulare), Covered California would not be able to hire...

SACRAMENTO — The high-stakes battle over labeling foods with genetically engineered ingredients is back.
Less than two years after California voters narrowly turned down a labeling ballot measure, the state Senate is grappling with the issue. The 2012...

SACRAMENTO — The state Senate is under pressure to expel Sen. Roderick D. Wright for felony convictions that involve lying about living in his district when he ran for the upper house. But such a vote might be awkward for some of his colleagues who have...

A year after approving a law requiring restaurant workers to put on new plastic gloves each time they handle food, state lawmakers are rushing to repeal the mandate after eateries complained it is a significant burden.
The state Senate on Thursday is...

California lawmakers have pulled an about-face on a controversial change to the state's health code that bans restaurant workers from touching food with their bare hands and requires chefs and bartenders to wear gloves.
The Senate voted 32 to 0...

Gov. Jerry Brown has signed bills that recognize the legal use of Bitcoins and other digital currencies in California, repeal a requirement for food handlers to use gloves, and keep minor truants out of lockup facilities, his aides announced Saturday.
In...

The chair of California's Assembly Health Committee has proposed legislation to repeal the controversial new food safety law that requires chefs and bartenders to wear gloves while preparing food and drinks.
According to a law that went into effect...

SACRAMENTO — Gov. Jerry Brown approved a new law Monday giving young people the ability to remove embarrassing information they post on Internet social networking sites.
California is now the first state in the nation to require websites such as Facebook...

SACRAMENTO – Giving California women more access to abortion, Gov. Jerry Brown signed a bill Wednesday that allows nurse practitioners and certain other non-physicians to perform the procedure during the first trimester of pregnancy.
The governor acted...